Hands-on with Damnation multiplayer

Last week, I moseyed on down to the Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco to check out the multiplayer modes in the upcoming game Damnation. The title’s flying a little under the radar right now with the likes of Far Cry 2, Fable 2 and Gears of War 2 on their way.

For the uninitiated, Damnation is a Steampunk-themed game set in an alternate history of the United States, where the Civil War goes on for decades. Amid this conflict, players have to battle the forces of an industrialist who wants to finish the war once and for all.

What sets Damnation apart from other third-person shooters is it’s focus on platforming. This is a game where players can jump over railings, hang and leap over to an adjacent ledge. They can shimmy across buildings and launch themselves from edge to edge. The movement is more Shadow of the Colossus rather than parkour.

The gameplay lends itself to certain modes such as King of the Hill, where players have to battle for a certain position in the game and they rack up points for staying there.
When I played Damnation, the combat was all right. I ran around the vertical level firing off rounds into my fellow journalists. The melee attacks are brutal and lead to death fairly quickly. As you would expect, the gameplay felt really arcadey. This isn’t SOCOM: Confrontation.

I pretty much run and gunned my way to the top. What’s interesting is that there are a couple of different way to reach the top of the hill, and Damnation forces you to find those way. You have to think like a platformer, finding ways to leap and grab from here to there.

Once I settled on my route, I made my way around only to die because I leaped off the wrong side of a box. Instead of jumping across buildings, the context-sensitive the crate made me hang from the side of the railings. This was something I didn’t want to do and I died from a shotgun blast to the face.

Not good. This happened a couple of other times and it could be an issue in the game. Maybe I didn’t know the jumping points in the area or perhaps I’m not as good at platformers as I think, but I got hung up on that jumping part of Damnation.

Other than that problem, I had a good time with the game. I’m sure it’ll take some time, adjusting to the way you think about shooting levels, but sometimes getting out of your comfort zone is a good thing.